


Best Fake Smile

by Aria_Masterson1153



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: And Hux's Thirsty, But so is Kylo tbh, F/M, Kylo's Claustrophobic, Rey's Sassy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-06 11:13:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12816294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Masterson1153/pseuds/Aria_Masterson1153
Summary: Rey's optimism was at an all time high, considering that she was attempting to carry out an undercover mission for the Republic at the recently completed Starkiller II base.Until she found herself in an elevator with Kylo Ren.Until that elevator shut down, leaving them both locked in close quarters.And until Kylo Ren figured out who exactly he was sharing his precious air with.





	1. Of Manipulation, Lies, and Thirst

She couldn't believe she'd actually agreed to the Republic's nearly suicidal plan. It had taken some time, but they had finally worn her down with the promise of other First Order base coordinates as a result of the mission. And they had finally honoured her request for more of the fresh vegetables that she loved, and couldn't seem to get enough of. 

But now, walking towards the back entrance of Starkiller II Base, wearing her absolutely ridiculous disguise, she couldn't say for sure that it was worth it. With a dull aura of energy surrounding her, no doubt a lovely side effect of the force dampeners they had given her, she felt like she was walking naked into a wild rancor's den. 

Glancing around her, she met several curious stares, which she desperately hoped weren't due to her older First Order uniform the Republic had procured from a body in a past battle. Holding her head high, she walked towards the first front desk she saw. 

Standing there for a few seconds with no response, she softly cleared her throat. The head at the desk slowly rose, giving way to the bored expression of the twi'lek secretary. 

"Yes?" She grumbled, clearly annoyed at being distracted from her work. 

Rey forced down the biting response that was forcing its way up her throat and instead forced a nervous smile on her face. "Hello," she began shyly, "I'm here for the radar technician opening." 

She was rewarded with a snide once-over for her troubles. "Huh," the twi'lek began sarcastically, " _you're_ the one they're singing praises about, hm?" 

Rey tried her best to not look as shocked as she felt. The Republic had really gone all out with this plan, hadn't they?

Immersed in her thoughts, she nearly missed the twi'lek nastily murmur "let's see how long she lasts," underneath her breath. 

Rey felt her eyes narrow against her best efforts, and couldn't wipe the annoyed expression off her face. The twi'lek noticed, and smirked at her in reply. "Elevator to your left, it's on the 30th floor." And then came her blatant dismissal, ignoring Rey in favour of returning to her work. 

With a huff, Rey turned and stalked towards the elevator. She glanced around at the crowd waiting in front of the elevator and scoffed. She would never fit in the elevator even if there was half the amount of people currently waiting. Her eyes scanned the area around her, looking for an alternate route. 

_There!_

Her eyes locked on a dimly lit corner of the lobby and an elevator door partially hidden by big, bushy fake plants. She peered back at the mob of people crowding the main elevator, and stealthily walked away once she'd made sure the attention was off of her. None of the other workers had given neither her, nor the other elevator, a second glance. 

In hindsight, she realized that was her first indication that this was no regular elevator. 

 

\-----/-----

 

It was passcode locked. 

Of course it was passcode locked. 

 _Force,_ she muttered internally. She couldn't seem to catch a break with this facility. 

Her eyes scanned the keypad. She wondered if she could still make a little force magic, despite the force dampeners they had given her. As controlled as she could manage, she tapped into her connection with the force to uncover the correct passcode. 

After a minute she could the numbers as clearly in her mind as she saw the keypad.  _5 ABY_

Her smirk heightened when she saw a dim flash of green, signaling the correct combination. The elevator doors opened and Rey heaved a relieved sigh. The private elevator was completely empty. 

She guessed that if she was breaking into Starkiller II base, she might as well do it in style. She bit her lip to contain her giggles at her own joke. 

She pressed the button for the 30th floor, and attempted to contain her victorious smirk when she realized that some of the mob had curiously squinted their eyes in her direction. 

 _Let them think what they like,_ she mentally reassured herself. After all, she wouldn't be making her escape through the main lobby, so she wouldn't be seeing them again. When the doors closed, she finally allowed her visage to slip for just a few moments, so she could gather herself. 

Truth be told, stealth was not exactly her forte. She had accustomed herself to resorting to brute force to get what she wanted; an 'act first, think later' type of thought process. Putting the thinking at the forefront of her mind was not something she readily embraced. 

And so, she needed a few more moments to think, and plan, the next step of the operation. After all, there was only so much the Republic could plan ahead, because she was stuck in a facility where so many detours were possible. 

And the first had already happened.

Her impatience had won out, leading her to take an elevator that was not even present on the blueprints of the base, that she studied meticulously for months on end. Force sake, she didn't even know where it would drop her off on the 30th floor. 

She was stupidly impulsive.

This she knew, but in conjunction with her brashness, her stupidity was borderline suicidal. How could she allow herself to put her life in peril in such a way? Over what, standing in line, while still blending in with the crowd? 

In the middle of her mental scolding, her body automatically jolted into an agonizingly stiff line, as she noticed the doors opening. She reassuringly ran her fingertips over the hidden compartment on the side of her pants, where her saber was carefully concealed. She was under _strict-_ even for her- orders to not use her saber until attacked upon. And even in her battle-ready state, she didn't quite like the odds she was up against if she drew her saber in Starkiller II Base. 

She kept her eyes lowered, out of apparent respect. She quickly glanced up and met the curious, and wary, stares of a small group of First Order soldiers. 

"How did you get on this elevator?" One of them, the leader, Rey later surmised, asked her. His voice was laden with caution, and she could only guess that he was always on guard. 

She tried to control the widening of her eyes as she frantically searched for an explanation. "General Hux sent for me," she explained smoothly, just vague enough to seem legitimate. 

The leader gave her a critical glance over. He huffed out a sarcastic laugh. "Well, that would be impossible, seeing as he is off-base today." 

She knew he was baiting her. 

His obvious lie told her as much, and the confused looks his lackeys were giving each other pretty much confirmed it. She straightened up, with an amused smirk twisting her features. 

"I know for a fact that he's waiting for me in the computer room on floor 30," she lied through her smirk. "And if you aren't privy to that information, do you really think you have any authority to be questioning me about my whereabouts?" She glanced at her nails in boredom, trying to mask her sneer at his gobsmacked expression. 

"Very well then," he muttered after a moment of silence, and then aggressively punched a button, effectively cutting off their connection from each other.

Once the doors closed, Rey began laughing hysterically. She couldn't believe the fragility of masculinity, though it was proved to her time and time again. But to avoid an elevator ride with a girl that made you look stupid in front of your colleagues? 

This one definitely took the cake. Who knew the First Order had such fragile egos? 

She quickly composed herself, in case there were any more unexpected interruptions. Thankfully, the elevator remained silent for the next few floors, and she could gather her thoughts and run over the plan. She tugged at the itchy blonde wig atop her head, rearranging it until she felt like not ripping her scalp off. 

She could feel the elevator begin to slow down, and she braced herself for her next round of unwelcome guests. She flickered her eyes to the ground, and watched as the doors slowly opened, revealing two pairs of boots. 

One pair was a functional forest green mountain boot, fur lined to protect from the extreme temperature drops on Starkiller II Base. The other, however, was a flashy set of black strap boots that looked too thin to be at all effective in the outside conditions. They looked well worn, and surprisingly familiar. 

Her eyes roved up the body that filled in those boots, and were met with multiple layers of black. By the time her eyes made it up to the all to familiar mask, she had already realized who exactly she would be sharing her elevator ride with. 

Kylo Ren and General Hux. 


	2. Another Happy Landing

She glanced into the unforgiving metal of his mask and tried her absolute hardest to mask her emotions. Master Luke had told her multiple times that the best way to mask her emotions and thoughts in the presence of Kylo Ren was to simply think of something else, to distract him from his search.  
  
Her eyes flickered over to General Hux, who was in the midst of giving her body an appreciative once-over. She attempted, and failed, in containing her eye-roll. When his eyes returned to her face, he smirked in response to her blush, misunderstanding that it was out of anger, and not embarrassment.  
  
Kylo Ren interrupted their precious little moment.  
  
"You," the emotionless distorter began, his body turning towards her, "out."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" She snidely remarked through her own voice distortion, failing to keep the venom out of her voice.  
  
"I do not pardon lack of intelligence," the voice spoke in a hoarse, bored monotone. However, Rey imagined that Kylo was anything but. "Leave, now." His gloved hand gestured toward the hall in a clear dismissal.  
  
Rey's mouth flopped in response. Even when they fought, he at least had the decency to listen to her snide comments. He was still trying to kill her, sure, but at least he didn't completely dismiss her presence.  
  
Just as she was about to impulsively deliver her own biting response, Hux interrupted. She later realized this to be a blessing.  
  
"Ren," he chided, much like a parent would to a child. Though the love a parent has for a child was sorely missing. Instead, there was a threatening undertone, that spoke of Hux's power and influence over Kylo. "This lovely young lady has just as much of a right to be on this elevator as we do," he sent Rey an accompanying wink with his statement.  
  
She covered her disgusted gag with a soft, trilling laugh.  
  
She glanced over to Kylo, to see that his head was cocked towards her. No doubt was he imagining her death in several different scenarios.  
  
No different from the usual, really.  
  
However Rey couldn't deny to herself that she felt the slightest bit uncomfortable with his mask on. The majority of their fights post Starkiller Base had involved him removing his mask. She wasn't sure exactly why he did it, but she couldn't deny that it comforted her a bit.  
  
Well, as comforted as one could be while they were fighting for their life.  
  
She realized Kylo Ren was most dangerous when he was silent with his mask on. His only-child temper issues didn't make an appearance and ruin the intimidating effect of his mask and outfit.  
  
She found herself in an unbreakable staring match with Kylo, and stared into the unforgiving metal of his mask. Though she knew exactly what was underneath that mask, she couldn’t quite pull away. Then again, she didn’t know his excuse for not breaking her stare. She knew that her disguise was practically infallible, and her force dampeners were definitely doing their intended job. She couldn’t quite understand why the staring match had continued for so long, but what she did know was that she wasn’t going to pull away first.

It would suffice to say that her competitiveness had not gone unmatched.

Her gaze swept over his mask, and her eyes locked onto a small tuft of black hair that was poking out from underneath his balaclava. She wondered if he’d hastily thrown on the mask once he had to re-enter the general population.

His head cocked again, interrupting her inner musings. Her own eyes narrowed in response. If he thought that his intimidation techniques would work on her, he was sorely mistaken. She’d once had him at the mercy of her lightsaber, which was something she would not readily forget. She could feel her nose crinkle in disdain.

  
“So,” Hux began, effectively ripping the two of them out of their internal pissing contest, “may I ask what you’re doing on the-“ he paused to look at the number panel on the elevator wall, “-30th floor?”  
  
His charming grin was supposed to disarm her, yet she sensed the same distrust and caution in his voice, though it was much better masked than Kylo’s was. She could see why they were so effective in interrogation. Rey herself already felt overwhelmed in their stifling presence.  
  
She had to play this carefully. She’d already had her mental shields up out of pure instinct the minute Kylo entered the elevator, but she knew she had to step it up for her lie, because she had a very strong feeling that Kylo would be looking for mental confirmation of her thoughts. And Hux would be looking for a subtle nod from Kylo, just to be safe.  
  
She stared blankly at Hux while subtly lowering her mental shields. And she began to think of how intimidated she was by the two of them. And how attractive she thought Hux was. One truth and one lie.  
  
Master Luke had taught her this way of mental shielding, and she had found it most effective against other force users, and especially against Kylo’s unique mind trick.  
  
She let those thoughts run through her head until she was convinced of their sincerity, and their strength. “I’m expected on the 30th floor. Andromeda sent for me to perform some work on the radar tracking system.” At Hux’s blank expression, she nearly smiled. Yet that smile quickly was wiped from her face once she felt the painful intrusion into her mind.  
  
She nearly screamed at the staggering pain. Her eyes began to water as she glanced back at Kylo, only to find him in the exact same position as when she last looked at him.  
  
It never hurt this much.  
  
Ever.  
  
Even when he had first used the force mind trick on her, arguably the most painful of all previous intrusions, it hadn’t come anywhere near the pain she was currently experiencing.  
  
He held back on her every single time. Why?  
  
Her tears had begun to streak down her cheeks, but Kylo had not lessened up in the slightest.  
  
“Do you believe that to be a satisfactory answer?” The dull voice questioned.  
  
“I’m a radar technician,” she gritted out between clenched teeth, knowing that if she opened her mouth any more she would surely be screaming.  
  
“What the _fuck_ is a radar technician?” She could hear the growl even through Kylo’s distorter.  
  
She flowed through implanted past memories of fixing radars, cycling through confusion, frustration, triumph and pain; when she burned her finger on a live fuse box.  
  
She bent over with the sheer ferocity of the pain, heaving small, panting breaths like a wounded animal.  
  
“Ren, enough,” Hux demanded, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he was bored.  
  
Immediately the pressure ceased, and she slowly straightened up, not before sending Kylo one last look of betrayal. His arms were crossed over his chest, but she could swear he was smirking under that stupid mask.  
  
She looked over to Hux, who was smiling charmingly at her. “So sorry about that,” he began insincerely, “we need to maintain a high level of security at this base.” His grin practically gleamed. “But you understand, of course.”  
  
Rey lowered her eyes, flushing at how badly she wanted to rip out her saber and destroy 'dumber' and 'slightly less dumb.'  
  
“Of course,” she softly whispered.  
  
“What’s your name, darling?” Hux asked flirtatiously.  
  
Kylo let out the scoff that Rey so badly wanted to let out. She and Hux both turned in his direction, to find him leaning against the wall of the elevator. “Hux, we have business to discuss, do we not?” Kylo spoke, the sarcasm apparent to Rey’s ears.  
  
“That can wait,” Hux waved his arm dismissively. “Your name?” The fallacious smile made a reappearance.  
  
“Preetta,” she began softly, recalling her false identity. “Preetta Mawltore.”  
  
“A ‘Preetta’ name for a ‘Preetta’ girl,” Hux responded with a cheesy grin.  
  
Rey felt her eyes narrow in annoyance; he really didn’t know how to take a hint.  
  
“Do you even listen to yourself sometimes? Seriously,” Kylo huffed through his distorter, even sounding a bit embarrassed, surprisingly.  
  
Rey couldn’t resist getting a joke in on Kylo’s behalf.  
  
“For once I actually agree with the droid,” she muttered.  
  
For a second, it was silent, and then she heard a strange choking sound. Sucking in a deep breath, she had to make sure she wasn’t on the end of another force choke. The air sailed through her lungs readily, so she looked over at Hux next, who was turning an interesting shade of purple.  
  
She wouldn’t mind at all if he was at the wrong end of a force choke.

  
Unfortunately, that peaceful thought didn’t last long, as he heaved a deep breath and began screeching with laughter. The nasal quality to his laughs rang deep in her ears.  
  
She carefully shielded her smirk as she watched Hux grip the elevator railing as he succumbed to an impressive fit of laughter. She watched as Kylo straightened and crossed his arms. She was truly surprised that he had yet to resort to brutality.

“My dear girl,” Hux spoke through his toned-down giggles, “you must have a death wish.” He glanced at Kylo, and immediately fell back into raucous laughter.

“Or a sense of humour,” she muttered in a whisper.

It did not unnoticed by Kylo, whose head snapped towards her. She knew that he had various death scenarios running through his head. She only hoped that they were creative.

“That finalizes it,” Hux spoke in a raspy tone once his laughter had died down, “we must meet tonight for dinner.”

Rey opened her mouth to voice her protests, but she was interrupted by Hux. “No, I will have none of it. Perhaps we can indulge in more of your biting humour over a nice glass of Ithorian Mist.” He smiled at her flirtatiously. “Rare stuff, that. Only the best for you,” he thought for a moment, and then amended his statement, “only the best for _us_.”

Rey needed to perform some damage control, and quickly. “General I appreciate your kindness; however-“

She was cut off as he gently placed a folded piece of paper into her clenched hands. “I’ll see you tonight, darling.”

She was so overwhelmed she barely noticed the elevator doors opening. “Ren,” Hux respectfully nodded his head in Kylo’s direction and walked out of the elevator.

They weren’t leaving together?

She could see Hux beginning to turn around, and she couldn’t imagine what he had in store for her. A good-bye wave, or _ugh_ , an air kiss. Rey shuddered, and practically flew across the elevator and began frantically smashing the button to close the doors. She caught his confused expression as the doors slammed shut. She leaned her head against the wall of the elevator and scoffed. She couldn’t believe that she was getting hit on during a reconnaissance mission. Today seemed to be one of firsts.

She crumpled the paper that Hux gave her and threw it behind her into one of the elevator’s corners.

“Ridiculous,” she muttered aloud, shaking her head at the preposterous turn the day had taken.

“What? Hux’s frankly disturbing attempts at courting you? Or the fact that you’re _still_ inhabiting this elevator, despite my previous statements?” Kylo’s distorter shocked her, for some reason she’d thought that she was alone in the elevator, despite not seeing him actually leave.

She jumped around to face him, and noticed that he was leisurely leaning against the wall of the elevator, more comfortable in his position once Hux left. Probably more comfortable in torturing her, as there were less witnesses. “General Hux said I could stay,” she gritted out angrily.

There was a pause, and Kylo’s hand gestured to the decidedly Hux-free space. “And do you see him here?”

Her eyes lowered as she thought of a plan. “Why do you need an elevator to yourself anyways? I’m going to the 30th floor, it just a couple more floors,” she tried to appeal to his reasonable side.

She should have known that there wasn’t one.

“Try 15 more floors,” he quipped back. “And I will spend my ride to those 15 floors decidedly less annoyed than I am now.” He glanced back at her. “In case your lack of intelligence prohibits you from understanding that, it means that I will spend them alone, because I can, and because you _will_ leave.”

“Yeah, let me just punch a hole in the elevator and free fall back to the lobby,” she said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

He took a moment to consider this. “That can be arranged,” he said pensively.

“No!” Rey exclaimed in response. “There will be no ‘arranging’ of any sort! If you have such an issue with my presence-“

“I do not understand why it needs to be said again but yes, I do-“

“Then,” she continued over him in a loud voice, “I’ll get off at the next floor.” She huffed dramatically.

She peered at the panel of floor numbers on the elevator, and watched as they slowly traveled towards the next floor. She glanced curiously at Kylo, noticing that he’d been uncharacteristically quiet for the last minute. Truthfully, she’d expected him to scornfully respond to her comment, but when she looked at him he was still scrutinizing her in a strange, contemplative way.

“Yes?” The question came naturally, as did covering up the anxiety that she experienced whenever Kylo was silent.

He straightened, as if he forgot where he was. “Nothing,” he stammered, showing vulnerability for the first time since he walked into the elevator. “You just remind me of someone-“

His sentence was cut off as the elevator halted to a stop, sweeping the legs out of from both of them. They both tumbled into a heap as the main lights shut off, leaving them both basked in a dim glow. They both pushed off of each other to entangle themselves from the intricate web of limbs. 

There was a brief pause before the shouting began.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this part! :)
> 
> -Aria


End file.
